Like any other musical art form, one of the surest paths to success in gospel music has been to try to duplicate as best as possible the successes of those who went before. But also, like in any other musical art form, the majority of the genre's most noteworthy contributors were those who dared to be a bit different than their peers. This month, I plan on focusing on a few of those artists, what made them different, and how their uniqueness shaped the gospel music we know and love today.

We begin this look into the true innovators of gospel music by going all the way back to its' recorded beginnings, to 1927, and the Frank Stamps All-Star Quartet, who made the first gospel recordings on a major label when they made 25 records for the Victor company (soon to be known as RCA) between 1927 and 1932.

The person who did the most to make that quartet unique and of lasting influence in gospel music was pianist Dwight Brock, who was discovered by group baritone Odis "Pop" Echols while playing piano at a drugstore in Alabama. Echols convinced Frank Stamps to hire Brock as a permanent member of the group. Previously, pianists who accompanied quartets were not actually members of the groups.

Brock had a lively rhythmic piano style that was entertaining to audiences, drawing as it did from the piano styles of the day. Brock was able to incorporate those decidedly secular sounds into a presentation of gospel music, and between verses of songs, did short improvisational solos that became known as "turnarounds". These turnarounds were so well received that they became second nature to gospel pianists of subsequent generations. Thus, it can be said that Dwight Brock was gospel music's first "innovator".

That distinctive style helped spawn the distinctive art form that became gospel music in motion. Naturally, others were poised to take it further from there.

The next trendsetter I want to examine is Hovie Lister, and his famous Statesmen Quartet. Lister had played piano with several of the top groups of the 1940s, gaining experience and learning his craft well. He had a dream of forming his own quartet that would be unlike any before it. In 1948, he finally got his chance when he organized the Statesmen.

And truly, from the outset, the Statesmen were distinctive, in great part thanks to Lister's boundless energy and enthusiasm. He rehearsed the quartet night and day, no doubt with the idea that "practice makes perfect". By 1953, when tenor Denver Crumpler joined the group, many called that particular configuration of Statesmen "the perfect quartet", for with Crumpler, lead Jake Hess, baritone Doy Ott, and bass Jim "Big Chief" Wetherington, the Statesmen had as ideal a sound as one could want from a quartet.

But this writer feels that the Statesmen's contributions to gospel music have been misunderstood by many. True, their sound was quite innovative for a gospel quartet. But the components of that sound were not "new", per se. Lister was quite an adaptable musician an stylist, and he incorporated different aspects of vocal and instrumental styles from the secular music world (vocal groups were becoming quite popular at that time) and with the help of Ott and Wetherington (two very skilled arrangers and writers), he was able to skillfully mold all of that into a unique and distinctive gospel music style which did (and continues to) influence gospel music in an unprecedented way.

So then, we had Dwight Brock establishing the bar, and Hovie Lister and the Statesmen raising it a bit more. Who would be next to blaze musical trails in gospel music?

For the answer, we turn the clock forward to 1957, to an all-night sing in Birmingham, Alabama, where three fine singers convinced promoter Wally Fowler to give them an impromptu opportunity to demonstrate their singing abilities. Three men, you ask? Where's the fourth one? Well, you see, Calvin Newton, Bob Robinson, and Don Butler didn't need a bass singer to round out their harmony. Their arrangements were unique in that each man had a distinct vocal part, which might or might not cross over with another member's…this was reminiscent of the way bandleader Duke Ellington arranged the instruments in his orchestras…there were no rigid "sections", but each member had his very own line that interwove with the others.

Needless to say, this was somewhat difficult to sing, but the resulting sound made the Sons of Song one of the most unique sounding vocal groups in gospel or any other genre of music. Truly, Newton, Robinson, and Butler were innovators. The fact that their sound was so difficult to reproduce doesn't make them any less influential than they turned out to be. In fact, Buck Rambo states in his autobiography that the Sons of Song were the primary influence on his group, the Gospel Echoes, which later became known as the Rambos. He cites that the Sons of Song proved that there was a place in gospel music for a non-quartet with a unique approach to music, and given the success of both the Sons and the Rambos, he was proven right.

The next "innovator" is perhaps better known for how they affected the overall image of gospel music more than for their musical innovations, but I assure you, they were most unique.

In the mid-1950s, five young students at Central Bible College in Springfield, MO were swept up in the gospel quartet craze going on at that time, and felt called to do the Lord's work in gospel music. Four and a half decades and several million road miles (not to mention trips to over 80 countries) later, it's palpably apparent that the Couriers definitely did the Lord's work through gospel music. In what sense were they "innovators"?

From the outset, the Couriers stayed devoted to their mission statement. Not being experienced musicians, at first they worked within the stylistic confines of the basic gospel quartet style, but as their talents developed, so did the scope and breadth of their music.

They were blessed to have a most gifted person in charge of their music, lead singer Neil Enloe, who had musical ambitions since his Illinois boyhood. Now, given the reigns of his own group to guide, and possessing a restless creative nature that wouldn't settle for doing the same things all the time, Enloe made sure the Couriers would make a unique mark on the gospel music world.

In a relatively short time, the Couriers were competent in all the various types of quartet arrangements. They conquered a cappella ("The Lord Bless You And Keep You" from their 1964 Christmas album), spirituals ("Swing Down Sweet Chariot" from their 1961 album "I Believe"), hymns (their entire 1962 album "Dedicated To The Hymns"), and gospel quartet classics ("He's A Personal Savior" from 1959 and again in 1962), and even "modern harmony" (1962's "If You Know The Lord"), but the best was yet to come.

In 1963, the Couriers astonished the gospel music world with an album released on Warner Brothers ("Nothing…But The Gospel Truth"), half of which was recorded with a full orchestra, something that Enloe and group leader Don Baldwin wanted to do. The album contained a big band jazz arrangement of "Joshua", a lush, string-laden version of "Sweet Jesus", a stirring orchestral version of "Were You There?", and also included "If You Know The Lord" for good measure. No gospel group had recorded that ambitious an album before. Now, 43 years after its' release, it still sounds fresh and unique.

Thereafter, the Couriers continued to experiment on occasion with different sounds and approaches, seemingly oblivious to whatever prevailing musical trends were going on. Their steadfast insistence on staying true to their course made (and makes) them true gospel music innovators.

But that spirit was infectious, and it wasn't long before new trends were taking shape.

By the late 1960s, the gospel music business was becoming aware of the growing youth movement in society. And the styles of years gone by was not exactly appealing to the era's restless youth. What to do to maintain the audience for gospel music?

A couple of groups took charge in particular around that time, the Imperials and the Oak Ridge Boys began to adopt the sounds and styles of the younger generation, and incorporated them into their music successfully. The two groups between them won the majority of the early Dove awards, newly created to honor the most accomplished gospel artists and songs. Predictably, their success influenced many other groups to do the same things, so groups like the Stamps and the Downings followed suit with similar success. Even groups more resistant to youth-oriented styles such as the Kingsmen began featuring full bands in response to the trend.

While the influence of those times remains in gospel music to this day, like all trends, that "youth" trend abated by the end of the 1970s, as more traditional artists and sounds fought back to reestablish their influence in the industry. This set the stage for the 1980s, when artists such as the Kingsmen, the Cathedral Quartet, and Gold City rose to prominence with traditionally based sounds that were updated to an extent for the times.

But this did not mean new sounds were extinct. A young family trio arose on the scene in the late 1990s, incorporating jazz and pop-tinged vocal harmonies to a mix of traditonal and new gospel songs of their own. The Martins' success in doing all this (Dove and Grammy awards) demonstrates vividly that southen styled gospel music is capable and able to accept and present original, gifted artists.

And even today, artists such as the Crabb Family are "blurring the lines" and pushing back the boundaries of what gospel music has been known to be.

But I hope this look back at some of the more original and gifted gospel artists of bygone years has demonstrated that while it is perfectly all right to travel down musical roads that have been previously paved, it's also OK to think "outside the box" and go where others have not been before.

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